Ted Rall relents? Holy crap. I bet there are hordes of flying pigs darkening the sky right now.

Some may know about Ted Rall's challenge to the right-wing blogosphere.

This is what he had to say on Feb 25 :

"So here's my challenge: Please email your worst, most vicious examples of liberal/leftie blogger vitriol (with links, natch), and I'll post 'em right here. If they exist, obviously.

If not, let's take as a given what we already know: that Republicans' first impulse is to punch people whose arguments they can't defeat with logic and to bomb countries whose people know something we don't."

By the Feb 28th, Monday, deadline, this was the rather sad 'rebuttal'.

"Well, color me unimpressed--with many of my fellow lefties.

(Although the self-categorization makes me uncomfortable. There are so many issues--balancing the budget, the right to self-defense, the Second Amendment, etc.--on which I don't hold doctrinaire left-of-center political positions. A better self-description would be left on economic issues, moderate on social issues, conservative on military matters--on the last point, my beef with recent American adventurism is that it makes us less safe and that our borders are totally unguarded. But long-time readers know all that stuff about me. And it could change, obviously.)

But back to the discussion at hand. I'll reiterate: I am surprised at the amount of vicious, specific threats of violence directed toward conservative personalities by supposed progressives. That kind of schoolyard bullying makes us no better than the Republicans we claim to despise for their "bomb first, ask questions later" approach to diplomacy. As everybody knows, I don't shy away from harsh language; I rather specialize in it. But I draw the line at threats, real or implied, against people with whom I disagree. Once you start to do that, after all, you've admitted defeat because you couldn't argue against your foe based on the merits of your point of view. And it's a gutter tactic running against the very essence of the First Amendment.

So. Does the left give back as much as the right? In my heart of hearts, I'd say the right-wing challenge didn't change my mind entirely. I think the right does it more. But, as a conservative blogger wrote elsewhere, it's much easier to notice when it's your side being attacked. I notice the attacks against progressives more, so they hurt more. Bottom line: it's impossible to quantify the hatred on both sides and determine who does it more.

Those of us who identify with the left must set an example by seizing the moral high ground on this point. While I still stand by my chapter in WAKE UP, YOU'RE LIBERAL about dirty politics, threats of violence are where we should not go. And we should call our friends on it if and when they do it.

Here are, as part of the challenge wrap up, some entries from over the weekend submitted by rigt-wingers. (No need to send more, folks, and thanks for playing! I, for one, feel enlightened if a little soiled.)"

He still says he thinks the right does it more, though. Yet mentions the hundreds of loathsome entries he received.
When you're led by your heart, belief is all you need. The hell with the facts.
Still, the fact that a slimeball like Rall relented even a smidgeon could certainly be heralded some kind of first. That crow probably don't make fer good eatin, nossir.